Why Do Mirrors Make Us Look Backwards?

Mirrors flip your image like a funhouse mirror. Imagine you're standing in front of a mirror, and it looks like you're facing yourself. But if you raise your right hand, the mirror shows your left hand doing the same thing. It’s not magic, it's how light works! Light from you bounces off the mirror and comes back to your eyes, making it look like you’ve been flipped sideways. That’s why we say mirrors reverse things left-to-right, but not top-to-bottom.

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Examples

  1. If you raise your right hand in front of a mirror, it looks like your left hand is doing the same thing.
  2. A mirror shows a person’s face as if they are facing the opposite direction.
  3. Imagine writing on a piece of paper and holding it up to a mirror, the letters appear reversed.

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